Before, During, and After the Destruction

I now have a lovely pile of dirt in my backyard: a new septic system that replaced a perfectly-fine system, but classified as failing by county code. Our soil is such that there was not sufficient clearance between the top of the soil and the groundwater, so we had to replace our septic system with an 80'x40' mound system. You can click on the pictures for larger versions.

Here's our yard in happier times.Note the garden in front of the ravine on the right-hand side. Birds enjoyed gathering in the little tree on the right side of the garden.

Here's our yard Monday before the digging.

Now for the destruction. Here's the scene Tuesday morning.

Note that the garden and the tree are both gone. The PowerKids thought the construction equipment was pretty cool.

Here's the unfinished mound (I believe this picture was from Wednesday morning).

The finished product today (Thursday)

The folks who installed it did a good job from what I can tell.

My yard is obviously ripped to shreds in the areas shown in the pictures and where the various trucks and equipment puttered about. I figure it will be a year or two until I can get my lawn back to where it was before the destruction. I also figure I'll be challenged in keeping a couple of young boys from using the mound as their personal ski/sled slope this winter. I'm sure it looks inviting to them, but it looks hideous to my wife, my mother, and me.

It's currently 4' tall. It ends where the ravine begins, and the slope that naturally leads to the ravine drops off quickly. But it's filled with peril (stumps, rocks, prickly things), things that little boys like to get involved with.